Ah, falling in love. It’s something I began to look forward to by the time I’d reached my tenth birthday, thanks to watching Doris Day movies with my mother. I naïvely believed that once it happened, some unseen force would cause me to gaze into the sky and I’d open my mouth and out would pour lovesongs. Nevermind that I’d never once seen or heard such a thing in real life; it was on TV, so it was real to me. (Who says TV doesn’t influence our thinking?)

Oh, my heart has leapt a time or two and my stomach has turned a few somersaults. And, yes, some well-placed kisses have made me feel like I might swoon. (Swoon: a term used by women my mother’s age to mean they’re about to pass out. And, FYI, if I did in fact pass out when a man kissed me, I might be wondering if he’d put something in my drink.) My mind has spun, my chest has heaved, and my hair has nearly caught fire. My heart has raced, my toes have curled, and my knees have gone weak. But not one damn time have I ever come close to breaking out into lovesong…not even close. Not even a perky little jingle.

I think the TV lied to me…and it’s only taken me a few decades to figure that out.

So tell me…is there something you believed as a child, only to grow up and find out it wasn’t so? I’d really like to hear about it…and no fair saying you believed in Santa, the Easter rabbit, or the Great Pumpkin.

2 Responses to All I Ever Knew About Love, I Learned From Doris Day

When I was growing up my parents had some friends whom I believed were mannerly, cultured, and great people….as I grew up and became more worldly I discovered that they weren’t what I had thought of them as a youngster. Oh they were alright, not just the persons of who I was in awe. What a big letdown.

Ah, yes. As children we did think people were more…things were bigger…etc., than what they really were. One day I drove by the house my grandmother used to live in and it was so much smaller than what I remember. Thanks for the comment, Jackie.